There are certain habits that every man needs to do to stay healthy and energetic.

1. Watch Your Diet

Eating right most of the time is an essential part of taking care of yourself – no matter how much you work out, you can’t maintain a healthy weight unless you stick to a healthy diet. So be sure to satisfy your appetite with good-for-you foods, and make an effort to keep an eye on calories.

Men are often surprised that even though they are exercising four days a week, they still need to eat well.

You at three meals a day

Portion control is the key

2. Stress Less

Stress. It can wreak havoc on your sex drive, increase your blood pressure and overwork your heart. That’s dangerous. In a 2011 study, middle-aged and older men who reported years of moderate to high levels of stress were more than 40% more likely to die than men with low stress. Unfortunately, as every man knows, there’s a lot to stress over. Long hours and work-related travel can translate into tension at home. In addition, it can lead to unhealthy behaviors, like eating too much or drinking more than usual. Over time, you increase your risk of weight gain, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

The best solution: exercise.

3. Exercise

To get or stay fit, you have to get and stay active. According to the latest federal guidelines, that means a cardio workout of at least 30 sweat-inducing minutes five days a week plus two days of dumbbell workouts or other weight-training activity to build and maintain muscles. Crunched for time? Kick up the intensity to vigorous exercise, such as jogging, riding a bike fast, or playing singles tennis, and you can get your cardio workout in just 25 minutes three days a week.

Exercise protects against so many conditions — from heart disease to colon cancer to depression — that the best choice is to start exercising now, no matter how healthy you think you are. But if you’re older than 45, discuss your exercise plans with your doctor before you start. Together, you can tailor a workout your body can handle and benefit from.

4. Do NOT ignore your mental health

At least 6 million men in the United States suffer from depression each year, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health. Today’s news continue to be populated with reports of black male celebrities committing suicide. However, many guys don’t like to talk about their feelings or ask for help.

Identifying problems, such as a lack of sleep or loss of interest in spending time with friends, is a crucial part of any man’s health checkup. Depression is more than simply feeling sad, unmotivated, and without energy. Depression is a real illness, and it can be life-threatening. That’s especially true for men because it increases the risk of serious health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

Depression is also the leading cause of suicide — and men are four times more likely than women to take their own lives.

5. Sleep

It’s hard to overestimate sleep’s importance. Diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease are all linked to not enough sleep. So are excess weight and mood disorders. A recent study showed that young men who skimp on shut-eye have lower levels of testosterone than men who are well-rested. Meanwhile, older men risk high blood pressure if they don’t get enough deep sleep.

Sleep disorders can also have physical causes. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), for example, disrupts breathing and forces you to wake up to draw a deep breath. It affects an estimated 4% to 9% of middle-aged men (twice the rate in women), yet as many as 90% of cases go undiagnosed. OSA raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure as well as car crashes, which are more common among the sleep-deprived.

Here are some good sleep habits to follow:

Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day

Exercise regularly

Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening

Don’t eat large meals at night

Skip the alcohol right before bedtime

Use the bedroom for sleep and sex only.

If these measures don’t help, see your doctor.

6. Your sexual health affects your overall health

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a concern that goes beyond the bedroom. ED is a risk factor for heart disease. In a 2010 study published in the journal Circulation, men with ED were twice as likely to have a heart attack and nearly twice as likely to die of heart disease as other men. Also, men who have trouble with erections tend to be overweight or obese, and to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Other factors are frequently at play with ED as well:

Diabetes

Substance abuse

Stress

Sleep deprivation

For a long-term solution, you need to make some lifestyle changes. Sexual health depends on getting and staying fit, physically and mentally.

We’re never spared the image a rock-hard pack of abs. But while we’re busy being shamed for not having them, we’re never told about how flab can have a big impact on your health. While belly fat may seem like more of a nuisance than a danger, this external marker is most likely the beacon of more serious internal, metabolic imbalances.

Here’s some information that will help you get a handle on your belly fat.

Location, Location, Location

People store most of their fat in two ways – one you can see and one you can’t. The fat you can see is just under the skin in the thighs, hips, buttocks, and abdomen. That’s called subcutaneous (under the skin) fat. The fat you can’t see is deeper inside, around the vital organs (heart, lungs, digestive tract, liver, and so on) in the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. That’s called “visceral” fat. Many people are self-conscious about the fat they can see. But actually, it’s the hidden fat — the visceral fat — that may be a bigger problem, even for thin people.

Like Another Organ

We all have visceral fat — and it isn’t all bad. It provides necessary cushioning around organs. But, the fat doesn’t just sit there. It makes lots of nasty substances. And having too much of it is linked to a greater chance of developing high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and certain cancers, including breast cancer and colon cancer.

How You Get Extra Visceral Fat

When a body’s obese, it can run out of safe places to store fat and begin storing it in and around the organs, such as around the heart and the liver. What kind of problem does that create? Fatty liver disease was, until recently, very rare in non-alcoholics. But with obesity increasing, you have people whose fat depots are so full that the fat is deposited into the organs. In addition, more fat is also being deposited around the heart.

Checking Your Risk

The most precise way to determine how much visceral fat you have is to get a CT scan or MRI. But you don’t need to go that far to get a sense of whether or not the fat inside you is putting your health at risk. Get a measuring tape, wrap it around your waist, and check your girth. Do it while you’re standing up, and make sure the tape measure is level. For the minimal effect on your health, you want your waist size to be less than 35 inches if you’re a woman and less than 40 inches if you’re a man.

Having a “pear shape” — fatter hips and thighs — is considered safer than an “apple shape,” which describes a wider waistline.

Thin People Have It, Too

But even if you’re thin, you can still have too much visceral fat. t’s partly about your genes. Some people have a genetic tendency to store visceral fat. It’s also about physical activity. Visceral fat likes inactivity. A British study showed that thin people who maintain their weight through diet alone, skipping exercise, are more likely to have unhealthy levels of visceral fat. So the message is get active, no matter what size you are.

4 Steps for Beating Belly Fat

There are four keys to controlling belly fat: exercise, diet, sleep, and stress management.

1. Exercise: Vigorous exercise trims fat, including visceral fat. It can also slow down the build-up of visceral fat that tends to happen over the years. But forget spot-reducing. There aren’t any moves you can do that specifically target visceral fat. Half an hour of vigorous aerobic exercise, done four times a week is ideal. Jog, if you’re already fit, or walk briskly at an incline on a treadmill if you’re not yet ready for jogging. Vigorous workouts on stationary bikes and elliptical or rowing machines are also effective.

Moderate activity – raising your heart rate for 30 minutes at least three times per week – also helps. It slows down how much visceral fat you gain. But to torch visceral fat, your workouts may need to be stepped up. Rake leaves, walk, garden, go to Zumba, play soccer with your kids. It doesn’t have to be in the gym. If you are not active now, it’s a good idea to check with your health care provider before starting a new fitness program.

2. Diet: There is no magic diet for belly fat. But when you lose weight on any diet, belly fat usually goes first. A fiber-rich diet may help. Hairston’s research shows that people who eat 10 grams of soluble fiber per day — without any other diet changes — build up less visceral fat over time than others. That’s as easy as eating two small apples, a cup of green peas, or a half-cup of pinto beans. Even if you kept everything else the same but switched to a higher-fiber bread, you might be able to better maintain your weight over time.

3. Sleep: Getting the right amount of shut eye helps. In one study, people who got six to seven hours of sleep per night gained less visceral fat over 5 years compared to those who slept five or fewer hours per night or eight or more hours per night. Sleep may not have been the only thing that mattered — but it was part of the picture.

4. Stress: It’s unavoidable, but what you do with your stress matters.

Being disabled or having chronic pain or illness makes exercise difficult if not impossible. But don’t lose hope. Exercise can be performed by just about everyone—including individuals with limited mobility. In fact, those who suffer from joint problems, weight issues, injury, or illness will find great benefit in performing regular physical activity.

Exercise not only helps control weight and strengthens muscles, but it reduces the risk of various diseases, boosts energy, strengthens bones, lengthens the life span, improves mood, sex life, sleep patterns and may even help prevent or manage addictions–whether they be to drugs, food, or anything else.

With a little creativity and dedication, physical activity can become part of anyone’s lifestyle. Here’s how:

What Types Of Exercise Are Possible With A Disability?

It’s important to remember that any type of exercise will offer health benefits. Mobility issues inevitably make some types of exercise easier than others, but no matter your physical situation, you should aim to incorporate three different types of exercise into your routines:

Cardiovascular exercises that raise your heart rate and increase your endurance. These can include walking, running, cycling, dancing, tennis, swimming, water aerobics, or “aquajogging”. Many people with mobility issues find exercising in water especially beneficial as it supports the body and reduces the risk of muscle or joint discomfort. Even if you’re confined to a chair or wheelchair, it’s still possible to perform cardiovascular exercise.

Strength training exercises involve using weights or other resistance to build muscle and bone mass, improve balance, and prevent falls. If you have limited mobility in your legs, your focus will be on upper body strength training. Similarly, if you have a shoulder injury, for example, your focus will be more on strength training your legs and abs.

Flexibility exercises help enhance your range of motion, prevent injury, and reduce pain and stiffness. These may include stretching exercises and yoga. Even if you have limited mobility in your legs, for example, you may still benefit from stretches and flexibility exercises to prevent or delay further muscle atrophy.

First, Talk To Your Doctor

Your doctor or physical therapist can help you find a suitable exercise routine. Ask:

How much exercise can I do each day and each week?

What type of exercise should I do?

What exercises or activities should I avoid?

Should I take medication at a certain time around my exercise routine?

How To Exercise With Limited Mobility

1. Starting an exercise routine

Start slow and gradually increase your activity level. Start with an activity you enjoy, go at your own pace, and keep your goals manageable. Accomplishing even the smallest fitness goals will help you gain body confidence and keep you motivated.

Make exercise part of your daily life. Plan to exercise at the same time every day and combine a variety of exercises to keep you from getting bored.

Stick with it. It takes about a month for a new activity to become a habit. Write down your reasons for exercising and a list of goals and post them somewhere visible to keep you motivated. Focus on short-term goals, such as improving your mood and reducing stress, rather than goals such as weight loss, which can take longer to achieve. It’s easier to stay motivated if you enjoy what you’re doing, so find ways to make exercise fun. Listen to music or watch a TV show while you workout, or exercise with friends.

Expect ups and downs. Don’t be discouraged if you skip a few days or even a few weeks. It happens. Just get started again and slowly build up to your old momentum.

2. Staying safe when exercising

Stop exercising if you experience pain, discomfort, nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness, chest pain, irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath, or clammy hands. Listening to your body is the best way to avoid injury.

Avoid activity involving an injured body part. If you have an upper body injury, exercise your lower body while the injury heals, and vice versa. When exercising after an injury has healed, start back slowly, using lighter weights and less resistance

Warm up, stretch, and cool down. Warm up with a few minutes of light activity such as walking, arm swinging, and shoulder rolls, followed by some light stretching (avoid deep stretches when your muscles are cold). After your exercise routine, whether it’s cardiovascular, strength training, or flexibility exercise, cool down with a few more minutes of light activity and deeper stretching.

Maybe, maybe not. At a recent Body Under Construction book signing, I was asked, “Since everyone knows that we should eat right and exercise in order to live longer, healthier lives, why don’t we do it?”

I think that this is a great question that gets to the very heart of why people don’t do what they should to live healthier lives.

Here are the 7 UNLUCKIE reasons I gave her…

Expectations. We set our expectations too high and establish unattainable weight and health goals. When these unattainable goals are not reached, most give up on attaining and maintaining optimal health before giving the process time to work.

Instant Results.Many expect instant results. They view themselves in the mirror and weigh themselves daily expecting an immediate transformation. When instant results fail to appear, many give up. Ironically, when we became overweight, the weight gained did not occur instantly. It was an insidious process that took place over a period of time. Attaining and maintaining optimal health requires patience as a person reverses the unhealthy habits which took years to develop.

Procrastination. We find multiple reasons to start tomorrow. Many won’t start until they are required to by a doctor who warns if you don’t develop healthier eating and fitness habits, you are at risk for cancer, heart disease, type2 diabetes or other chronic illness. Start today so you can have many healthy tomorrows.

Time. Many claim they don’t have enough time. We make time for so many things in life. We make time to watch our favorite TV show. We make time to clean our cars. TV shows eventually get cancelled and are replaced. Today’s car models are replaced within a year. But our magnificent bodies are irreplaceable. We only get one. Many need to make time to attain and maintain optimal health.

Priority. Health is just not a priority to many people. It only becomes a priority when a person is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, heart disease or other chronic illness. It’s best (and less stressful) to adopt healthier habits as a means of prevention.

Discipline. Establishing healthier eating, fitness and sleep habits requires discipline. Developing a more disciplined lifestyle is difficult at the start. Overtime, however, your disciplined health-based lifestyle will become second nature.

Fear of Failure. Many men and women have a genuine desire to lose weight and attain optimal health. Unfortunately, their true desires are taken advantage of through weight loss gimmicks, commercial promises to lose weight instantly or get the six-pack they always wanted in “3 easy steps”

When these gimmicks, weight loss gadgets, and “belly fat blasting” promises fail them, they give up and rarely give attaining optimal health another chance. They feel as if they’ve failed. What they don’t realize is that they didn’t fail. The gimmicks, gadgets, and unrealistic infomercial promises failed. The only failure in attaining and maintaining optimal health is a failure to get started.

Maybe, maybe not. At a recent Body Under Construction book signing, I was asked, “Since everyone knows that we should eat right and exercisein order to live longer, healthier lives, why don’t we do it?”

I think that this is a great question that get to the very heart of why.

Here are the 7 UNLUCKY reasons I gave her…

Expectations. We set our expectations too high and establish unattainable weight and health goals. When these unattainable goals are not reached, most give up on attaining and maintaining optimal health before giving the process time to work.

Instant Results. Many expect instant results. They view themselves in the mirror and weigh themselves daily expecting an immediate transformation. When instant results fail to appear, many give up. Ironically, when we became overweight, the weight gained did not occur instantly. It was an insidious process that took place over a period of time.

Attaining and maintaining optimal health requires patience as a person reverses the unhealthy habits which took years to develop.

Procrastination. We find multiple reasons to start tomorrow. Many won’t start until they are required to by a doctor who warns if you don’t develop healthier eating and fitness habits, you are at risk for cancer, heart disease, type2 diabetes or other chronic illness. Start today so you can have many healthy tomorrows.

For something so crucial to your quality of life as your health, there are certain shocking health facts that can make it difficult to know just what to do to stay healthy.

Such as…

Nap or stay awake?

You had to work late for a meeting. Now it’s 4am, and you have to be at work at 7am. Should you try to get a couple hours of sleep, or is it better to just stay up and deal?

According to experts, even though you may want to take that nap, it may not be the best thing for you, says Michael A. Grandner, PhD, research associate at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania.

“If you get less than 4 hours, there’s a good chance that you’ll wake up in slow-wave sleep, which can leave you disoriented, irrational and extremely irritable,” Grandner says.

So, what should you do? Drink some coffee and keep busy until your regular bedtime.

Which is worse: sitting for too long or smoking?

Just about everyone knows that both sitting down for too long and smoking are both pretty bad for your health. But which one is worse?

A group of Australian researchers recently tried to find out by analyzing data from a lifestyle survey with 11,247 participants over the age of 25. The result? The team concluded that every daily hour of sitting while watching TV was associated with an 8 percent higher risk of death.

“Watching one hour of TV above age 25 may be about as lethal as smoking one cigarette,” says J. Lennert Veerman, PhD, a senior research fellow at the University of Queensland, who led the study.

So, what should you do? Or rather, not do? ”While smoking rates are going down, almost everyone watches quite a bit of TV,” says Veerman. He recommends limiting couch time to two hours per day or night.

Does coffee or alcohol disturb your ability to sleep more?

Both that cup of coffee and that glass of wine can prevent you from sleeping well, says Allison T. Siebern, PhD, CBSM, clinical assistant professor and the associate director of the Insomnia and Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Caffeine makes your body think that it’s not tired, Siebern explains. But as soon as it wears off, you crash. End of story. But in the case of alcohol, while you may get a little sleepy at first, and even fall asleep, you may easily start snoring, having nightmares, breaking out into nightsweats, or getting headaches.

So, what should you do? Have a cup of coffee if you need to stay alert, drink a glass of wine for happy hour with friends. Avoid both if you need to wake up early the next morning.

Should you exercise on a full stomach or an empty one?

According to Heidi Skolnik, MS, CDN, FACSM, a noted nutritionist:

“You’ll probably be so hungry later that you’ll eat even more,” she says, adding that she sees this over and over with her clients.

So, what should you do? Think of your pre-workout snack as fuel. Skolnik says research supports the idea that having something in your system will help you work out harder, which will then help you burn even more calories. Overeating will make for an uncomfortable workout, but not eating at all will hurt your workout, your metabolism and your overall health.

“Understanding how to navigate through a strong corporate culture was something I had to learn during my career at Toyota,” said Latondra Newton. “Toyota is one of the most admired companies in the world because it approaches its business practices in unique ways that are deeply rooted in its history. I’d read so much about the “Toyota Production System” and “Toyota Way” before I took a job with the company, but no academic exercise could have prepared me for being on the inside.”

Latondra Newton has held a variety of positions since beginning her career with Toyota in 1991. Among them are general manager of the center that managed engineering and manufacturing staff training and development initiatives in North America, and assistant general manager of Toyota’s™ human resources, management development and diversity department. In that role, Newton started the corporate diversity function for North American manufacturing. As assistant general manager of Corporate Affairs, she was responsible for state and federal legislative/regulatory activity, media relations and community relations. Prior to leaving Toyota’s™ purchasing organization in 1999, she managed the facilities and transportation department, where she directed procurement of capital equipment, building construction andlogistics services for North America. Currently, Newton is the vice president of Strategic Planning & Research and Corporate Diversity at Toyota Motor North America, Inc. She oversees corporate planning activities, image research, economic forecasting, and competitor analysis as well as diversity and inclusion strategy. Clearly, Newton has kept moving at Toyota but how did she find the keys to successful navigation? “My approach was to seek out the right people to coach me on the job, even if those folks were very different than I,” Newton explained. “It was one of my early diversity and inclusion lessons: Inclusion works both ways. We can’t just expect people in the dominant culture to do all of the reaching out; those of us in the non-dominant culture need to show up, ready to engage.”To new college grads and early professionals, Newton has five tips for success: 1. Be self-aware. Make this a discipline, not just a periodic exercise of self-reflection. I always recommend the Enneagram character typing tool to others who want to understand themselves better and know how to build productive work relationships. 2. Learn how to solve problems. I think it’s the most transferable business skill out there if you can establish a systematic way to do it. 3. Think, in moderation, beyond your current situation. I like to spend 90 percent of my energy on dealing with my current role, with the balance going toward a future role or aspiration. I find that if I spend too much time thinking about what’s next, it leads to unnecessary frustration and potential performance issues in the current role. 4. Always be ready to answer the question, ‘so what?’ I ask this question almost every day. It’s one thing to do great research or analyzes that show your technical abilities. It’s a better thing to be able to communicate the significance of the work to people who don’t have those same insights. 5. Laugh. Who wants to spend 10 plus hours a day away from family/friends in an environment where no one has fun? Toyota is very committed to producing vehicles where they sell them. “A product like that is of local job creation,” said Newton. “We recently opened our 10th manufacturing plant in the U.S. located in Mississippi, which contributed about 2,000 new jobs to the area. Toyota directly employs more than 30,000 people across the U.S. and that number continues to grow.”

There are many benefits to finding ways to reverse type 2 diabetes. A big one is its expense. According to the American Diabetes Association, the combined cost of medical care and lost productivity due to diabetes in the United States exceeded $174 billion in 2007.

People with diabetes pay 2.3 times as much for health care as non-diabetics, and $1 in every $10 spent for health care is attributable to diabetes.

Sadly, even though type 2 diabetes was once considered an adult disease, so many children now receive this diagnosis that it is no longer referred to as adult onset.

Recent guidelines from the American Diabetes Association advise that some new patients try healthy eating and exercise before they begin medication. Now, the latest science reveals that fine-tuning many long-held health habits may lead to even better results.

1. Eat fruits and vegetables. They can reduce your diabetes risk and protect your heart. In a new study, people who ate at least 12 types each week had a lower diabetes risk than those who ate a less diverse mix—regardless of overall quantity. Mix arugula with your romaine, snack on fruit salad, pile new veggies onto your sandwich.

2. Lose weight—even just a little—for better blood sugar control. Don’t worry if it’s taking a while to slim down. In a 2012 review paper, Sheri Colberg-Ochs, PhD, noted that exercise alone improved the ability of previously sedentary, middle-aged adults to metabolize sugars, regardless of whether they lost any weight. Their total cholesterol dropped too.

3. Get enough hours of sleep. Research links too little shut-eye to increased diabetes risk. Make it a good night’s sleep—sleep quality may matter as much to your health as the number of hours of slumber you log. Research shows that poor sleep affects your body’s ability to properly metabolize sugar and disrupts the hormones that regulate your appetite, which can lead to weight gain and increase your diabetes risk.

4. Skip the rice. White rice may be a popular diet staple, but that doesn’t make it nutritious. A recent Harvard study found the greater a person’s white rice intake, the higher his or her risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Compared with its brown rice counterpart, white rice has lower levels of fiber, magnesium, and vitamins. In addition, white rice is considered a high glycemic food, which means it’s digested quickly and can lead to blood sugar spikes.

Maybe, maybe not. At a recent Body Under Construction book signing, I was asked, “Since everyone knows that we should eat right and exercise in order to live longer, healthier lives, why don’t we do it?”

I think that this is a great question that get to the very heart of why people

Here are the 7 UNLUCKIE reasons I gave her…

Expectations. We set our expectations too high and establish unattainable weight and health goals. When these unattainable goals are not reached, most give up on attaining and maintaining optimal health before giving the process time to work.

Instant Results. Many expect instant results. They view themselves in the mirror and weigh themselves daily expecting an immediate transformation. When instant results fail to appear, many give up. Ironically, when we became overweight, the weight gained did not occur instantly. It was an insidious process that took place over a period of time.Attaining and maintaining optimal health requires patience as a person reverses the unhealthy habits which took years to develop.

Procrastination. We find multiple reasons to start tomorrow. Many won’t start until they are required to by a doctor who warns if you don’t develop healthier eating and fitness habits, you are at risk for cancer, heart disease, type2 diabetes or other chronic illness. Start today so you can have many healthy tomorrows.

Time. Many claim they don’t have enough time. We make time for so many things in life. We make time to watch our favorite TV show. We make time to clean our cars. TV shows eventually get cancelled and are replaced. Today’s car models are replaced within a year. But our magnificent bodies are irreplaceable. We only get one. Many need to make time to attain and maintain optimal health.

Priority. Health is just not a priority to many people. It only becomes a priority when a person is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, heart disease or other chronic illness. It’s best (and less stressful) to adopt healthier habits as a means of prevention.

Discipline. Establishing healthier eating, fitness and sleep habits requires discipline. Developing a more disciplined lifestyle is difficult at the start. Overtime, however, your disciplined health-based lifestyle will become second nature.

Fear of Failure. Many men and women have a genuine desire to lose weight and attain optimal health. Unfortunately, their true desires are taken advantage of through weight loss gimmicks, commercial promises to lose weight instantly or get the six-pack they always wanted in “3 easy steps”

When these gimmicks, weight loss gadgets, and “belly fat blasting” promises fail them, they give up and rarely give attaining optimal health another chance. They feel as if they’ve failed. What they don’t realize is that they didn’t fail. The gimmicks, gadgets, and unrealistic infomercial promises failed. The only failure in attaining and maintaining optimal health is a failure to get started.

The findings from a recent Wake Forest University study may seem almost laughable: About a third of black women cite hair care difficulties as the reason they work out less than they would like—or why they don’t exercise at all.But these findings aren’t amusing. African-American women are at a high risk of obesity and its many consequences. What’s more, African-American women have the highest rates of being overweight and obese compared with other groups in the United States. About four out of five tip the scales.After the finding was published, the discussion began. Health care providerstook notice and started considering the link between black women’s hair issues and physical activity—and how to find practical ways to address the problem.One African-American woman, Jeanette, says she regularly exercises. But she also says if she has someplace to go, she won’t work out beforehand because she doesn’t want to ruin her hair. Jeanette’s biggest fashionable coiffure versus fitness challenge? The need to wash her hair so often. “It’s inconvenient because I work and don’t have a lot of time to redo my hairstyle,” she says.But a lack of hair management time is only one of several key complaints cited by black women regarding their physical activity and hair care regimens. In an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) consumer focus group report, black women said concerns about the high costs of hair care and damage from regular cleansings cooled them to exercising more often. To explore solutions to such problems, one health care company, UnitedHealth Group, teamed with Bronner Bros., the Atlanta-based company that produces annual beauty and hair industry trade shows. The result? An innovative hair fitness competition that challenged hairstylists to create the best fitness-friendly hairstyles for women.“We have learned to have great respect for the African-American hair professional,” says Reed Tuckson, MD, the executive vice president and chief of medical affairs for UnitedHealth Group. “We’re helping them become much more capable and available to participate in the fight for health across the board in our community.”Tuckson says his organization will continue to partner with community hairstylists in order to improve African-American women’s health.“Hairstylists are people who have an incredibly intense and intimate relationship with their customers,” Tuckson says. “We are excited to help deploy them as an army of new health deputies who we believe can be very effective at creating much more health awareness in their customers when they come to the salon.”Regarding women whose hair concerns keep them from exercising, Tuckson believes that hairstylists can show them how to better work with their tresses. The idea is to offer black women easy and convenient styles that’ll allow them to work out—and work up a sweat.“This can also be the spur that’s needed to motivate women to engage not only in exercise, but to have positive attitudes about diet and lifestyle modifications that enhance their health,” Tuckson adds.Elgin Charles, owner of a Beverly Hills hair salon, agrees with Tuckson. He thinks the initiative is a good way for stylists to educate their clients and teach them how to manage their hair before and after they exercise. This way, they don’t have to sacrifice their health to look attractive and well-groomed.“This is a very serious issue in our community. A lot of us are unhealthy because we eat everything we want and avoid physical activity,” Charles says. “Worrying about your hair shouldn’t be a reason not to exercise.”Work It Out!Lose your hair-care fear.Don’t let hair maintenance anxiety scare you away from exercise. These celebrity hairdressers teach health-conscious black women how to tame such terrors.Afraid to stress your straightened or natural strands?Try twisting or braiding your hair, says Elgin Charles, a Beverly Hills hairstylist. Occasionally heat-straighten your tresses? Before your workout, apply a thermal protectant, such as nuNAAT’s Karité Special Anti-Frizz Thermo Active styling cream, says New York hairstylist Ashley Hanna. Then, make pin curls and wrap hair. After your workout, blow-dry hair roots on medium heat then style. Another option? Wrap hair in sections around the head then tie with a silk or satin scarf. This preserves your hairstyle during a workout. Tresses locked? Wrap them too, Charles says.Terrified because you wear a weave or extensions?Treat these just as you would your natural hair. Weaves or extensions can do double duty because they allow you to rock a variety of styles while letting your real hair rest and rejuvenate.Too spooked to swim?First, wet hair with water then slather on conditioner. This stops hair from soaking up the chlorine in a pool or salt if you swim outdoors in saltwater. Put on a swim cap. Shampoo and condition hair after swimming. If you swim a lot, consider attaching a ponytail once you’re out of the water for a new daily look. It’s easy: Smooth your own hair back—use a curl-taming product if needed. Then attach the ponytail.Scared about color-treated curls? Apply another thermal protectant and color saver, such as Twisted Sista’s Blow Drying Creme, Hanna says. But the most important post-workout tip for African-American women with color-treated tresses, Charles says, is to keep hair moisturized.